


The Hound and His Master

by Beleriandings



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Huan is a Maia of Oromë, Kinslaying, Mentions of Violence, maybe AU?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 08:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1130502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Huan's loyalties are divided during the kinslaying at Alqualondë.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hound and His Master

Huan loped swiftly towards Taniquetil, the wind streaming in his fur as he ran through the darkness that seemed to never end. He knew that, for good or ill, he had little time. The sounds of the fighting that he had left behind rang in his ears still. The sound of his master calling him, giving him instructions even as his new-made sword scythed out, cutting down the Telerin sailors, dockers and fisherman before him, in front of a grim tableau of blood and steel, sand and salt water.  _His master?_  He wondered vaguely at what point he had begun to refer to Tyelkormo by that name, the one he had once used only for Oromë. He wondered whether the current situation meant that he should stop.

 _Taniquetil._  He burst into the council chamber of the Valar, feeling the touch of Oromë’s mind against his as he entered the room, his claws clicking on the marble flagstones. The Valar themselves sat in their familiar semi-circle of marble thrones, looking calm and dignified, and for the world as if the situation was an entirely normal one.

“Huan!” said Manwë. Oromë only smiled. “Why are you here?”

 _You know why, lord._ Huan didn’t bother to change his fana; in this form he could speak to the Valar with his mind easily enough, and haste was necessary. He had little patience, and the image of Tyelkormo telling him to go and stand by Ambarussa and Ambarto and protect them burned in his mind. Disloyalty was not in his nature.

“Disloyalty is not in your nature, hmm?” Oromë gave him a sidelong smile. “And yet, here you are.”

Huan cursed himself internally. When communicating with thought alone, one had to be careful.

 _I have little time,_  he urged.  _Please. Reconsider your position. I beg you to put a stop to this madness._

“Madness?” Varda raised an eyebrow. “They brought this on themselves, you know. Yes, both sides” she added, seeing Huan’s expression.

“Besides, I already did my part. Their course is set” said Manwë.

_Lord, with respect, sending Eonwë was never going to –_

“Huan” interrupted Oromë. “Do you perhaps forget where your first loyalty lies?”

Huan threw caution to the winds.  _When you made Turcafinwë my master_ , he thought,  _I thought you meant for me to protect him. And also to stop him doing anything… rash. And now my hour has come, yet you ignore me, when many could be saved? Why did you do it? Why did you let me watch him grow from a boy to a man, to give to me the task of befriending him, easing his isolation from his brothers, if it were only to see him become a murderer? To see him bleed, to see him die. I do not understand._

A momentary flash of pain crossed Oromë’s face, and he seemed about to speak, when Námo interrupted in his quiet, breathy, yet strangely carrying voice.

“Not even the most far-sighted of us anticipated this, Huan.” He looked down at him appraisingly with those strange eyes, solid black, all pupil. “And yet, you are not at fault. You have done no wrong. Not  _yet._ ”

Huan’s mind spiralled as he realised the implication.  _Are you threatening me?_

“No” said Námo pleasantly. “Merely offering you a choice.”

 _If I stay here, now, I will not fall under… whatever fate you have planned for them…_ he shuddered. _And if I return… even if I go to try to stop this…_

“…then you will” finished Námo, nodding gravely, his face blank.

Huan stared.  _But I would return to try to stop the killing! I ask only for the help of some of the eagles… surely Thorondor could be summoned. It does not have to be this way._

“ _Have_  to be this way?” put in Tulkas impatiently. “It  _has_  to be this way because it already  _is_ this way. They are fighting and killing and dying as we speak, although I’m sure we would all rather it were otherwise.”

“Your moral code is somewhat inconsistent, don’t you think, Huan?” said Varda smoothly. “You have grown to love Tyelkormo and to want to protect him over the years, yes, I can see that in your heart. But you claim to be unbiased, to simply want to stop the violence and restore peace? You need to take a better look at your motivations.”

Huan stared at them.  _Then you will do nothing? You will sit back and watch the Children slay each other, when it is in your power to stop it?_

Manwë sighed. “It is  _not_  in my power, not now. My brother…” he winced. “This world has been marred beyond repair, and this is something that none of us sitting here today can change.”

_So you will not even try?_

“Enough!” interjected Oromë. “Huan. It is time to make your choice.”

Huan looked at the noble, fair faces watching him from all around the room.  _You already know what I choose. I choose to return. I choose to act. I choose hope and war and the possibility of a better future, as you once did. Or have you forgotten?_ When none of the Valar responded, he turned tail and loped from the room without a second glance, to begin the long journey back through the dark. Back to his master, should he remain alive, and back to blood-soaked Alqualondë.

“So be it” said Námo quietly, when he had gone.

————

“There you are Huan!” exclaimed Tyelkormo, kneeling beside him, by the ruins of the main pier. The air was still, eerily quiet and heavy with smoke and the choking weight of death. His voice cracked a little, and he wiped impatiently at the trickle of blood oozing from a cut above his eye. His face contorted in pain. “When you weren’t with Pityo and Telvo, I thought… I thought… I don’t know.” Then Tyelkormo composed himself, the unspoken question vanishing from his eyes, much to Huan’s relief. “Anyway. It doesn’t matter now. I’m glad you came back.”

Huan looked up at Tyelkormo, licking his master’s cheek contemplatively and wagging his tail. Tyelkormo’s skin tasted of blood and salt.  _So am I_ , he thought to himself wearily.  _So am I. I did the right thing. The honourable thing. I cannot right this wrong, but there will be plenty more wrongs to come._

And in that moment, at least, he was almost sure he believed it wholeheartedly.


End file.
